Day 16 Nav-ex brain overload

24th March

I arrived late because of some road works but it was no broblem as Kev had put asside a few hours for this session.

A course and magnetic heading etc was plotted for the 62nm flight to Kingaroy, but by the time we got into the air the wind had come up. It was also gaining strength and becoming gusty. Damn, this had me concerned when we got into the air as this wasn't plotted into the heading.

At home I had been drawing lines from "a to b" on the charts and taking note of landmarks and towns etc for visual verification that I was on course. In theory it all seemed easy, but I soon found out getting away from familiar territory and keeping the aircraft straight and level while looking on the chart for some sort of landmark that I should be looking for while doing those regular checks like, heading, altitude and instruments etc was not as easy as I thought it was going to be.

When we got to the half way landmark I worked out about how far we were blown off course and adjusted the heading to what I thought it needed to be to be back on course by the time we got to Kingaroy. When I asked Kev if he thought I was right with my calcalations he just gave his usual "it's your aircraft" reply. This didn't help my confidence much because sometimes he says this when he knows I'm stuffing up.

The journey from Lynfield to Kingaroy

Kingaroy turned up almost smack bang in front of us, and as we got closer I was able to identify the airfield and join circuit for a full stop (and hopefully a coffee). We had a quick chat with a guy in a hanger (but no offers of a coffee). I worked out a new heading allowing for the wind drift, and headed home.

I'm still getting used to working with a compass. The drifter didn't have a working compass so working with a compass is still a bit of trial and error at the moment. Sometimes when I go to adjust my heading I'll go to go the wrong way which will bring an instant reaction from Kev, but that will get better as I get more time in. But the problem was when my workload was pretty heavy I was stuffing up more with the compass.

The trip back was made easier by being able to pick up Mt Hallen when it appeared on the horizon and adjust my course slightly and go visual the rest of the way.

For a straight in approach to Lynfield I misjudged my descent and I knew I was going to be too high, so I did a decending turn while I was still out of the circuit area and did the usual short field powered approach into Lynfield. But I don't know if there was more sink than usual down through the trees and I didn't detect it or my brain was just too tired and slowed down my reactions, but if it wasn't for Kev fire-walling the throttle I may have bent the undercarage.

I was exhausted!

Well here's hoping I'll be more on top of my game next time, and be able to go home feeling better than I did today.

T/T 19.5 hrs (solo 2.4 hrs)

Day 15 Having some fun in the Tecnam

17th March

Today we did the familarisation session with the Sierra that I thought we were going to do last session. We started off with some stalls, plus some various turns left and right, then set course for Watts Bridge.

On my first landing on "12" at Watts I put it down hard and got a little bounce and a rev from Kev. We were actually on the ground before I expected to be as the Sierra has longer landing gear than the Drifter that I've been flying and this caught me out.

The next two landings were better so Kev said we could head back via Bradfield and do a touch n go short field powered approach on "18" and then home for another short field powered approach.


All in all I had an enjoyable 1.4 dual flight and looking forward to the "nav-ex" next week and seeing more of South east Qld.


T/T 17.6 (solo 2.4)

Day 14 Flying the Tecnam Sierra

Thursday 26th February


I fronted up today expecting to spend today's lesson familiarising myself with the Tecnam. But Kev had other ideas; well not totally other ideas, but it was not what I expected. He told me to grab my nav gear as today we are doing a nav-ex and I can familiarise myself with the plane while I'm doing that. I had sat in on a nav course on Sunday but I was still a bit vague on some things. Because I wasn't expecting to be doing a nav-ex so soon, I hadn't done any study to sort out the vague areas.

After plotting a course etc (with Kev giving me some help), we got the Tecnam out, did the usual checks etc and got airborne after a ragged take off. We got to Redcliffe where I matched up the ragged take off with a ragged landing (hey, there was a good cross wind and this is the first time with left hand on the stick ;-) ).

After a cup of coffee I did a neater take off and set a course for home where I did a short field powered approach with some prompts from Kev to help me in.


All in all a good day with a good landing back on home strip to top off the day.


T/T 16.2

Day 13 Some low level hairy stuff.

Tuesday 24th February

As discussed last week, today was my last day in the drifter in my training program. I took off knowing I was going to be doing a practised forced landing under a power line some time in this lesson. So I headed for the windmill where we normally turn left to stay out of the Amberley restricted area on our way to Bradfield, but instead of turning left as usual Kev called out to turn right and follow the Seven Mile Lagoon to its south west extremity. He explained to me that there was a pumping shed near the edge of the Lagoon. I told him I could see the pumping shed and the power lines running across the paddock to the shed. He then said "you have been well briefed on this and that is the only paddock suitable for you to force land in and you now have an engine failure" and then the throttle was closed.

My first attempt would have got us into the paddock but it was going to be a bit short as Kev wanted me to pick a point closer to the power lines. So Kev called "my plane" and took us back up to a suitable height again, then handed the plane over to me again and cut the power. This second attempt I judged it better as I lost height and turned into the wind. As we came over the fence I pushed the nose down a little more, not only to aim at the spot Kev wanted me to aim at but also to carry enough speed to carry us under the power lines after I levelled off a couple of feet above the paddock.


After one more aborted attempt and another successful one, Kev told me to climb to one thousand five hundred feet and head for Bradfield. We were about half way there in a beautiful cloudless sky when Kev told me the cloud base had now dropped to 1500'. So I dropped the nose and levelled off at 1400'. Then he called that the cloud was now down to 1400' so again I descended, but as I descended he kept the cloud dropping and as Bradfield is 400' above sea level it wasn't long before he had the clouds at tree top level and we were down amongst the trees and about one and a half k's from Bradfield. I knew there were mostly paddocks with just a few scattered trees between where we were and Bradfield, but with tree lines running along some of the fence lines it meant I had to scout around these to get there. Down amongst the trees I could not see Bradfield but I knew we would be getting close. Then as I scouted around a patch of trees there was the threshold of runway 18 only 150 mtrs away lined up directly in front. Then Kev called out that the clouds were now at ground level and I was dead.

Kev chewed my ear off for not deciding to make the call that I would have to put it down in a paddock instead of trying to reach my destination because that is how pilots kill their passengers and themselves. Lesson learnt !!!

When we landed he told me to go for a fly and practice some steep turns, stalls and some forced landing approaches but do not go below 500'. "And don't forget to come back in an hour or so and pick me up". :-)

Back at Lynfield at post flight briefing Kev told me he was happy with how I handled myself with the low level flying through the trees and under the power lines. For me, it didn't faze me too much having to do it and I can see how in training it can be beneficial, like practicing forced landings, but I hope I'm never put in a situation where I need to draw on that part of my training.

T/T 14.6 hrs (solo 2.4 hrs)

Day 12 Tecnam Sierra time???

18th February 2009

When I left Ipswich for the 45 minute drive to Lynfield there were some light showers around and I was driving through some fog on top of the hills. You know you have low cload base when you can't keep below the cloud in a car. But Kev hadn't rang to say don't bother so the conditions must be better up at Lynfield.

The sun was shining when I arrived so we started with briefing which was going over lessons that I have done. Kev told me today we will be doing a forced landing under a power line (which we discussed for a while), and a refresh on anything I have already done that I would like to revisit. At this point the weather that I had left behind when I left home had followed me to Lynfield. So Kev gave me the Tecnam Sierra check lists and told me to go and sit in the Tecnam and familiarise myself with the cockpit.



Hooray!!! It looks like one more lesson in the Drifter and then I will be flying the Tecnam Sierra. I'm looking forward to that. So even though I didn't get to fly today, I am excited about next week (weather permitting).

PS. Robyn gave me a David Clark head set yesterday. She said that was my award for going solo. Isn't she thoughtful :) (I better not forget to do the same for her when she goes solo :) )

Planning beyond flight training

Back a few months ago when it was explained to us that Recreation Aviation was more economical than General Aviation, Robyn and I started to think about learning to fly. We also started to think about what we were going to fly when we finished our training. We bought some aviation magazines and read up about the various recreation aircraft that would be suitable for touring and decided a new aircraft was well out of our range.


So we started looking at the second hand market and asked around. A friend of mine Jim G had started to build a Karatoo from plans. I told him what our plans were and he told me he would introduce me to Marty H, a friend of his that had an RV6 which was a good performing all steel kit plane. Jim explained that the RAA were looking at increasing its MTOW to 760kg and that would allow the RV to be registered under RAA.

From there we did some homework on Van's web sight and scoured google for test flights on the various RV models and finished up deciding on the RV9a (like the one pictured below). This aircraft using the Lycoming 0-235 has a 38knot stall speed, maximum take off weight of 750kg and will cruise on 75% power @ 143 knots (264 kmh).

A Vans RV-9A

We have now acquired a used mid-time Lyc 0-235, which thankfully we were able to pick up at a good price together with a full set of engine and VFR instruments. And if all goes well and we are able to scrape up a few more dollars, we hope to be placing an order with Van's in July for a RV9a quick build kit.

Our slightly used Lycoming o-235

We also realised we are going to be needing somewhere to hanger the plane when it is built.
An hour up the road from where we live is Watts Bridge, an ex WW2 airfield that has been brought back to life. We managed to acquire a hanger/chalet leasehold site there and plan to build a hanger/weekender before the plane is finished. The plan is to build a hanger large enough to fit two high winged and two low winged planes, and leasing out hangerage will help to pay for the hanger.

The proposed site for our hanger/chalet at Watts Bridge

Now all I have to do is sell the business before the kit arrives so I'll have the time to put it together, and at the moment it is not a good time to be selling a business. We also have to hope that Recreation Aviation Australia do increase the MTOW to 760kg before the plane is finished or we will have to register it as General Aviation.

Here's hoping the future smiles on us.

Day 11 Just go for a local fly about

Monday 16th February

I'm starting to get the hang of the rudder on the ground as this morning's take off was again straight down the centre line.

On the trip over to Bradfield I found myself looking for and evaluating forced landing paddocks as I was expecting any moment for the throttle to be closed. It didn't happen but the threat has got me looking, so I guess that is what it is supposed to do, keep me on the ball

When we got to Bradfield we did two circuits and Kev got out and told me to go for a local fly around and enjoy myself for a while then come back and do a couple of circuits and pick him up. Now I'm not a guy to not do what I'm told so I went for a fly. And spent the whole time looking for forced landing paddocks as they came and went and working out how I would descend and set-up for the landing. It was peaceful up there on my own buzzing around and even though I was training myself to keep a constant look out for other aircraft and emergency landing paddocks, as well as keeping an eye on the instruments, I did enjoy myself

Back at Bradfield the first landing was good but the second was a bit of a bouncer so I powered on and went around again. The bounce probably wasn't bad enough to abort as the second bounce was hardly a bounce but as I have not had to abort a landing because of a bounce situation I did it for the experience, besides I was told to do a couple of circuits and pick the boss up and this gave me the excuse to do another circuit ;) .

I stuffed up my short field powered approach back at Lynfield by being too high when I turned onto final, so I need more practice at these.

T/T 12.6. T/solo time 1.4

PS Both Robyn and I did our Human Factors training course on Saturday and we both passed

Sitting for my Human Factors test